PC Gamer's print edition about Blizzard's anniversary had a very interesting sort of flow chart listing all of the games that former Blizzard devs have, or are working on over the last decade or so. It seemed to list two WoW devs that went on to Trion, one specifically on Rift and the other on presumably what Defiance is. I assume the flow chart was limited mostly to higher level devs and not the equivalent of a key grip or best boy on a movie.

I used to joke we'd keep seeing games touted as "from the creators of Starcraft," and "from the makers if Diablo," and when you reviewed the fine print, the dev team had someone who worked in the art department of one game or helped with "UI programming" on another.

The game is from Trion, makers of Rift. CK, I'm wondering if this would go better in the Off Topic section since the real novelty is that it's going to be a TV show? I dunno.

In any case, these guys need to hire ME now (or maybe a group of us here) before they make all the same idiotic mistakes (in both genres) that everyone continues to make. No one is a bigger both TV AND MMORPG junkie, and they really really need someone to make sure they don't mess up what could be a really cool thing.

At the beginning of the game, your ship comes under attack, and your escape pod crashes. You’re separated from the scientist mastermind who hired you to escort him as he studied Ark tech, and much of the game’s early missions revolve around you trying to find your way back, before getting caught up in something much more grand.

You have what’s called an “EGO” implant to help you along the way. Your EGO is a soft-spoken AI companion, who offers mission advice, as well as various tutorials. She’s basically Cortana, but with a voice and personality that calls to mind Angel from Borderlands. I half-expected her to start talking about a “funny little robot” at any moment.

It’s not just the gentle, feminine AI that will remind you of Gearbox’s FPS/RPG hybrid. Enemies drop various guns, shields, and grenades as loot, and though they don’t get as stat-crazy as Borderlands, they do support elemental add-ons which can deal extra damage via things like fire and acid. It even has a bright, colorful, stylized aesthetic, which is a welcome break from the brown and gray apocalypses we’re used to.

Defiance mixes the third-person shooter game play with MMORPG structure in a similar way as Borderlands merged its respective genres, and for the most part, it works quite well.

I played on PC, but found the controls better-suited to an Xbox 360 controller as opposed to a mouse and keyboard. Defiance doesn’t rely on a complicated array of buttons and bars, like many MMORPGs. When using a gamepad, you use left analog to move, right to aim, left trigger to zoom in, right trigger to fire. Left bumper activates your special ability, right bumper tosses a grenade, and up on the d-pad calls in your vehicle. In other words, Defiance is a shooter first, and it feels built like one.

The RPG elements come in the way your character progresses. You won’t choose a class at character creation, because the game doesn’t function based on classes. Instead, you’ll choose your race and gender (the build I had only allowed for two races, but there are many more in the Defiance universe) as well as an Origin and Archetype....But despite these occasional hiccups, Defiance surprised me. A game that does a good job of merging traditional RPG elements like loot, leveling up, and a skill tree with an action-heavy genre like a third-person shooter is the exception, not the norm. Defiance‘s systems don’t feel like a copy of anything else, though it clearly borrows from the likes of Borderlands and Trion’s own Rift.

This is much more than a video game using a SyFy show as a promotional gimmick; it’s not always perfect, but it’s fun, and I look forward to seeing more. Defiance - the game - releases April 2, and the show premieres April 15.

He mentions there's no cover-fire system in spite of an abundance of cover.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I can't say to much due to NDA, other than the game is actually pretty fun. It has some decent shooting mechanics, and a HUGE skill tree to choose from. The graphics are very nice, and runs nicely on my 1½ year old I5 laptop at 1600 x 900.

The missions themselves are okay, but the meat of the game is of course the PVP part.

That said, 59.95 is NOT a price range I'm comfortable with - I wish they had gone the Planetside 2 way instead.

I just got an email from Twitch about this game,i had never heard of it before but "the massive, online open world shooter" made me think it meant Destiny at first and i was surprised that this was coming to 360

Quote

Defiance, the massive, online open world shooter, coming to PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, is launching world-wide on April 2nd. The game is currently in closed testing and the last official beta weekend (and the NDA lift) is scheduled for March 22nd. Twitch and Defiance have teamed up to provide Twitch broadcasters exclusive early access to the PC closed testing environment from Friday, March 15 at 8AM PST through Sunday, March 17 at 9PM PST. The Twitch broadcasting community will be the only folks (besides the devs) to ever stream from these servers: it's yours for the whole weekend.

To get started, head to www.defiance.com/TwitchPartners and enter your email address. The Defiance dev team will then send an email, granting you access to the PC game.

Once you are in – start streaming! Please remember, though, that this is an exclusive to Twitch. Don’t upload your VODs to YouTube (or anywhere else) until March 22nd – then you can go nuts.

That said, 59.95 is NOT a price range I'm comfortable with - I wish they had gone the Planetside 2 way instead.

Yeah, I would have definitely given this a chance if it was free to play like Planetside 2. Being $60 means I'm definitely waiting for the post-launch reports (and based on the lack of hype, the inevitable price cuts). I ended up giving Planetside 2 my money anyway, but only after I was able to spend many hours in it and find that I really enjoyed it.

I don't know what they may or may not have done since the prior beta, but what I saw was pretty sad. It was almost identical to the opening tutorial from Tabula Rasa, I could almost swear it was lifted directly - but with a bunch of glitches and buggy behavior. I never got much further after some bizarre mob(?) one shotted me and I was stuck in some weird plant/graphics glitch.

I don't know what they may or may not have done since the prior beta, but what I saw was pretty sad. It was almost identical to the opening tutorial from Tabula Rasa, I could almost swear it was lifted directly - but with a bunch of glitches and buggy behavior. I never got much further after some bizarre mob(?) one shotted me and I was stuck in some weird plant/graphics glitch.

totally different experience here - Everything just worked out of the box, the game looked great, and ran great, and was a lot of fun. Its VERY nice to have an MMO that isnt a fantasy world based on the WoW model, and this is definitely it!

So I continue to be a bit perplexed by the grouping mechanics in this game. I really don't understand how a group member can change phases while they are running right next to me. Also I find a lot of other elements of grouping a bit lacking, such as quest management, waypoints etc. It's fun to shoot bad guys with friends, I'm just not sure why the game seems to make it so difficult at times. Also the remove friend option is really rather poorly placed.

I'm enjoying it. I hear the console versions are having all sorts of problems. The pc version also has some very odd 'is this still beta?' bugs and 'features'. Despite all of that, I'm having a blast. I really enjoy the feel of combat.

I'm enjoying it. I hear the console versions are having all sorts of problems. The pc version also has some very odd 'is this still beta?' bugs and 'features'. Despite all of that, I'm having a blast. I really enjoy the feel of combat.

Yes I'm really enjoying myself, and to be totally honest I find myself dieing more then I expected to which was a pleasant surprise. Watched that IGN hour long segment with the game, the AI didn't look all that great, glad they polished it up a bit.

But, to give you a little more of a response: I'm only EGO level 98 or so (which in this game is practically nothing) - so I'm not the best person to answer you. That being said, Defiance doesn't strike me as the type of game that gear "looks" are of any importance. And I'm not talking in a sense of what a player deems important, but more the game itself. Functionality and/or look of a weapon in action is a slightly different story however. There are some weapons that really stand out in big firefights, but not so much because of how they look - more so on what you see happening during the battles, and tracing the "bullets" back to the gun wielder himself. Clothes/armor/outfits are nice, and even have a fair level of detail; but I can't say I've seen a great amount of variety - nor is anyone ever standing still long enough to notice anyway. Vehicles have some (if not much) variety, but again... it's not like most games where you look around for, or prance around with any type of super vehicle; at least not that I've seen. Regarding loot drops themselves; so far for me, I get excited over finding new weapons, but really that's about the only thing with respect to loot that's exciting so far. No idea if that changes.

Just one person's opinion, but maybe that helps.

Logged

LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."